Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Various : Iowa Ear Music

Largely forgotten classic of improvised music from 1976, credited to the Iowa Ear Ensemble but it's in fact more of a sampler - tracks from different sources, different combinations of musicians mostly non-related and collected from a lengthy timespan (1967-76) assembled together to make an organic whole. Not jazz, though it got max rating in Downbeat magazine, closer to the free spirit of the Tuscaloosa, Alabama scene of the time (Trans Museq, Blue Denim Deals, Raudelunas). A never reissued artifact from the time when musical experimentation was truly exciting and groundbreaking and also a great listening pleasure.You can find at Discogs a detailed lengthy account of who played what, where and when on this record.Iowa